What Happened to Trick 'r Treat?

Share.

Axelle questions why this genre classic went straight-to-DVD?

By Axelle Carolyn

Last October, I dedicated a column to the best Halloween horror movies ever made. There were quite a few entries, some of them brilliant, but very few really exploiting the eeriness and fun of the holiday. Now finally, a movie has come out which truly revolves around Halloween (rather than simply using it as a setting) and fully captures its atmosphere.

Trick 'r Treat is an anthology film in which each of its four segments takes place on All Hallows' Eve in a little Ohio town, and sees characters and storylines intertwine seamlessly. Written and directed by Michael Dougherty, it is a future classic. Sadly, unless you've caught it at a festival somewhere, chances are you'll never get to see it on the big screen. It recently hit DVD, and horror fans, along with Dougherty himself, are scratching their heads wondering why.

While box-office receipts have reached record levels this year, it is a well-known fact that financiers are more cautious than ever, thus more reluctant to release movies on the big screen.

A theatrical release adds millions to the production costs, so it is logical that only the films most likely to turn in a profit would deserve this additional investment. Independent films therefore more often than not go direct to DVD. But Trick 'r Treat is no indie: Produced by Bryan Singer for Warners and starring Anna Paquin and Brian Cox, it always seemed intended for a wide release.

A spooky scene from Trick 'r Treat.

Since its completion in 2007, several U.S. theatrical dates were announced then retracted. A first trailer was released in the summer of 2007 on the 300 DVD, but the October date it mentioned was soon cancelled, after a test screening in July of the same year.

Trick 'r Treat then premiered at Harry Knowles's Butt-Numb-A-Thon in Austin, Texas, in December 2007, and started garnering rave reviews in festivals around the world. Release plans were rumoured for February 2008 (a Halloween movie for Valentine's Day?) then quickly abandoned. Word spread that Warner Bros. had dropped the flick, then picked it up again.

Over the course of 2008, merchandising started to appear. Several toys of Sam -- the mysterious little character who ties Trick 'r Treat's stories together -- were commercialised, as well as a Halloween mask and a lavishly illustrated (and highly recommended) coffee-table book.

A screening at Screamfest L.A. generated a new buzz online and in the horror community, and for a little while, it was one of the most talked-about genre movies of the moment. Yet there was still no release date in sight.

Finally, after a successful promotion at Comic-Con this year, Trick 'r Treat hit DVD on October 6. A new graphic novel will be released simultaneously.

So why the lack of love? One answer could be found in the nature of the film itself. Studios notoriously dislike anthology movies, which they seem to find them hard to market.

Click above for an extended scene from the Trick 'r Treat DVD.

It is also an R-rated movie in which children get killed, a big taboo in Hollywoodland. But surely, this is all information that Warner Bros. had when they decided to invest in Dougherty's story, right?

Could it then be the consequence of poor test screening results? Possibly. The testing process isn't always reliable, especially for genre movies.

But more crucially, could it be that horror films that aren't sequels or remakes have become increasingly hard to sell these days? While the odd original low-budget scary movie can still occasionally make good business (2008's The Strangers is one example), franchises such as Saw and Final Destination and reboots like My Bloody Valentine 3D, Friday the 13th or Prom Night make up the majority of horror hits of the past couple of years, despite bad reviews and worse word of mouth.

Horror fans may bitch and complain, but they still wait in line to see remakes on opening weekend, if only just to make sure it truly is as bad as they thought. Saturday night audiences, meanwhile, favour brand recognition over new discoveries. They want to eat popcorn, cuddle up to their dates, and see something unchallenging and easy to follow.

This leaves little space for movies like Trick 'r Treat, which aren't instantly recognisable and classifiable, aren't predictable every step of the way, and aren't likely to open big without major promotional investment. Shame for the few of us who would just like to discover smart, well-made, original films at their local cinema.

On a side note, Trick 'r Treat isn't the only Warner Bros. horror production coming straight-to-DVD this month. Dave Parker's The Hills Run Red, a fun and gory throwback to exploitation films, hits UK shelve on October 26. This Halloween, do yourself a favour... stay home and watch them both.